Is a 6-Figure Seller Something to Aspire to Be?

The video Matt reacts to today is about what category someone should sell on Amazon for the best results. While Matt has an opinion on this, he also has another message he wants people to realize. And it’s not one a lot of people talk about, so make sure you watch. 

There are tons of people out on social media giving business advice. Some of it is good advice, but most of it isn’t good. In this series watch CapForge’s owner react to different advice videos. He’s an expert in all things business and has 20+ years of experience under his belt. Some of the things he reacts to might even surprise you!

Video Transcript: 

Business Advice Video:

What category should you selling as a brand new seller? And this video is for you if you do not want to sell used books. My name is Taylor I’m a 6 figure Amazon seller. No.1 home and garden. No. 2 pet supplies. No. 3 outdoors. And No. 4 tools and home improvement.

Matt’s Review: 

Okay, those are pretty random categories. And she doesn’t talk at all about how she came up with why those are the ones to sell and not other ones. And really I think the answer is sell something where you have a unique product that is better than the competition or more specific than the competition and the market specifically that you’re targeting. You have an advantage, a differentiation, a reason for people to pick your product over whatever the other choices are. And it’s not just because it’s the lowest price but because it’s actually better, actually is the solution or the product that they’re looking for and really solves their needs better than whatever the other options are. So if you fit all those criteria but it’s not one of the four categories she listed, does that mean you shouldn’t sell it? No, of course not. you should sell what you’re actually able to sell effectively not just because somebody named off a category. And by the way, being a six-figure seller on Amazon you can meet that criteria by selling literally 83,000 a month on average will get you to $100,000. $100,000 lets you call yourself a six-figure seller. But a six-figure seller is lucky to be making, if you’re just hitting that 100,000, you’re lucky to make 5,000 or 6,000 dollars in most cases on $100,000 in sales. Unless you have a very unique, high-margin, branded product that you don’t have to advertise and that has great profit margins, great markup. In which case maybe at most you make 20 or 25 thousand dollars a year. Which is not a ton of money even if it’s extra money and not your main job and it’s fine. Saying you’re a six-figure seller sounds like a level of success that’s pretty significant. If someone says to you they have a job where they get paid six figures you say “Wow, that sounds – that’s a pretty good job.” But if somebody says there are six figures seller on Amazon just understand that that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re making a ton. In fact, we’re seeing a lot of six-figure sellers close their business because they’ve been unable to make a profit. They’ve been losing money even selling 300, 400, 500,000 dollars a year in products they’re still ultimately losing money. It’s costing them out of pocket to run their business and they’re having to close down. I just wanna put it in perspective for you, a six-figure seller on Amazon is not the pinnacle of success. It’s really just kind of getting started. And to be profitable to where you’re taking money home and making a decent living, not even an amazing living, not a Lamborghini and mansion living, but I could do this instead of having a regular job living, you need to be a seven-figure seller. Which is $1 million or more in annual revenue. And even then it’s not by any means guaranteed. So just putting it in perspective. When somebody says “I’m a six-figure seller so you should listen to me”, realize that six-figure seller on Amazon is actually still really the minor minor leagues. And when they throw out here’s the categories you should be selling in that may be working for them, but that doesn’t mean that there are people selling in other categories making a killing. Or that you also couldn’t do very well selling in other categories. It’s not the category you sell in. It’s what you’re selling, how you sell it, and how much you make selling it that matters.